Is it possible for an object to travel through space without being affected by gravity if it moves at or exceeds the speed of light?

Soumendra Nath Thakur

05-05-2024

Yes, an object can travel through space without being influenced by an external gravitational field.

As per Hubble's law, the expansion of the universe causes distant galaxies to move away from us at speeds exceeding that of light.*

Gravity typically dominates over vast distances, although there are circumstances where antigravity might be stronger than gravity. Systems bound by gravity, such as galaxies or galactic clusters, can only exist within their respective spheres of gravitational influence.#

However, the object must be located in intergalactic space, beyond the zero-gravity sphere of the nearest galaxy.

Moreover, the object must possess its own gravitational field, as described by classical field theory.*# This implies that the gravitational field of object M at a point r in space can be calculated by determining the force F exerted by M on a small test mass m located at r, and then dividing by m. Ensuring that m is significantly smaller than M ensures that the presence of m has a negligible effect on the behaviour of M.

References: 

*Wikipedia contributors. Faster-than-light. Wikipedia. #A. D. Chernin et al. 2010, 2012a. *#Wikipedia contributors. Classical field theory. Wikipedia.